An actor who starred in the first Austin Powers film is facing life in prison after being charged with taking part in a vicious gang rape almost two decades ago.

Joe Son played the Oddjob-like henchman Random Task in the 1997 comedy, which starred Mike Myers as Austin Powers and nemesis Dr Evil.

Son's alleged involvement in the Christmas Eve 1990 rape came to light when he provided DNA after being arrested for vandalism in May. Investigators found his sample connected him to an unsolved gang rape case in which a woman was pistol-whipped, raped, threatened with death and finally released wearing nothing but a blindfold.

The Korean-born Son, 37, is a former Ultimate Fighting Championships competitor who has invented his own martial art, Joe Son Do. He retired in 2002, following a defeat to rival Jukei Nakajima.

Son has now been charged in Orange County, California with five counts of rape, two felony counts of forcible sodomy, two felony counts of sodomy in concert by force, seven felony counts of forcible oral copulation, and one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object by force. He faces a maximum sentence of 275 years to life if convicted.